Survey reveals Brits need a staycation, as over half of us can’t identify famous national landmarks

55.5% of Brits can’t identify famous national landmarks such as Big Ben, Edinburgh Castle or Stonehenge…

East of England residents most knowledgeable of UK landmarks, whilst those in Scotland were the least!

If there’s something the UK can pride itself on, it’s the vast array of famous monuments and historical landmarks. From one end of the country to the other, there is a dazzling range of history that draws tourists in from all over the world.

Despite that, it seems we’re not actually as clued up on our landmarks as we’d like to think and perhaps rather than jetting off abroad this summer, we should take some downtime to appreciate the wonders of our little island.

Westland London, dealers in antique fireplaces, decided to conduct a survey of 2,000 people in the UK to find out exactly how much they know about our famous monuments and landmarks. And, er, it’s shamefully rather little!

Overall, Brits scored just 44.5% on the test to identify historical monuments and landmarks – bearing in mind these included The Angel of the North, Westminster Abbey, Stonehenge, Blackpool Tower, and The Royal Liver Building.

Regionally, people from the East of England did the best, compared to the rest of the UK, but even so they only scored 51.7%! So although they may know the Blackpool Tower from the Eiffel Tower, they still have a long way to go! Just behind them were the South Westerners, who scored 50%.

But the Scots performed worst overall, scoring just 35.3%. And even more shamefully, the test revealed that 30.8% of Scots could not identify Edinburgh Castle correctly! Considering it’s one of Scotland’s most famous and beautiful monuments, that’s not ideal…

Londoners came in second to last place, only scoring 39.8%! London has dozens of historical landmarks, so there’s really no excuse. It turns out only 45.5% of them knew what the Globe Theatre looked like, for example…

From the coastal routes of Northern Ireland and Scotland, to the Black Mountain Pass in Wales or the Lake District, the UK has so much to offer that if you discount the UK for a holiday, you’re certainly missing out.

‘It looks like us Brits have a lot of studying to do when it comes to knowing our national landmarks!’ says Anthony Bridgman at Westland London. ‘Despite being taught about most of them at school, perhaps we just forget about them as we get older.’